Introduction
Tens of millions of Americans are victimized by violent and property crimes yearly. Approximate and direct numbers from federal sources and Gallup are below.
This article is based on the number of crime victims regardless of how many times they were victimized (repeat victimization). If a woman is violently victimized by her husband five times, it’s not one victim but five separate victimizations.
There are endless disputes about whether crime is increasing or decreasing in the United States. Third quarter 2023 crime data from the FBI indicate decreases in all categories except for vehicle theft and hate crimes while the 2022 numbers from the National Crime Victimization Survey (the latest national yearly crime report) state that violence increased 44 percent (the largest increase in the nation’s history) with big increases for groups.
The answer gets complex because the sources collect and distribute different numbers based on the varied crimes counted. Regardless of the numbers used and the assumptions made, not everyone will agree with my findings, conclusions, or approximations. That’s the case with all articles counting crime.
You are either astounded by the crime numbers in the US (and its impact on cities, people, budgets, and commerce) or you’re saying that we have never lived in safer times based on past victimization rates which ended in 2015 per increases in violence from the National Crime Victimization Survey.
Fear of crime is at its highest levels yet endless articles are saying that Americans are delusional about their concerns. Per USA Today, there are people from other countries who skip traveling to America because of crime. The estimated annual cost of US crime is $4.71–$5.76 trillion.
The numbers below combine hard (stated) figures from the FBI and the National Crime Victimization Survey (both US Department of Justice agencies) and estimates based on households victimized and the average number of people per household.
I use rounded numbers throughout this article.
The numbers below also greatly differ if you include or exclude simple assaults. Assaults are (by far) the most common form of violent crime.
The actual number of Americans victimized by crime yearly ranges from 13,800,000 via the FBI (violent and property crimes) to 39,000,000 per the National Crime Victimization Survey (violent and property crimes) with another 23 million victims of identity theft, again based on the National Crime Victimization Survey. The 39,000,000 number is based on stated federal statistics of household crimes based on an average of 2.5 people per household.
I provide an approximate total of yearly crime victims (and households victimized) in the conclusion.
Gallup offers percentages of households victimized for four crime categories (violent-property-identity theft and cybercrime).
Author
Leonard Adam Sipes, Jr.
Retired federal senior spokesperson. Thirty-five years of directing award-winning public relations (and explaining crime data) for national and state criminal justice agencies. Interviewed multiple times by every national news outlet.
Former Senior Specialist for Crime Prevention for the Department of Justice’s clearinghouse. Former Director of Information Services, National Crime Prevention Council. Former Adjunct Associate Professor of Criminology and Public affairs-University of Maryland, University College.
Former advisor to presidential and gubernatorial campaigns. Former advisor to the “McGruff-Take a Bite Out of Crime” national media campaign. Certificate of Advanced Study-Johns Hopkins University. Former police officer. Aspiring drummer.
Author of ”Success With The Media: Everything You Need To Survive Reporters and Your Organization” available at Amazon and additional booksellers.
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Quotes
All quotes are edited for brevity.
Background
This is the thirteenth in a series offering data from the FBI’s latest crime reports based on crimes reported to law enforcement. The first was Locations Of Violent Crime-Where Crime Happens. The second was The Time Of Day For Violent And Property Crimes. The third was Violent Crime Totals By State. The fourth was Violent Crime Victims By Race And Ethnicity-Who’s Victimized Most? The fifth was Are Females Violently Victimized More Than Males? The sixth is Most People Are Violently Victimized By Family Members Or People They Know. The seventh is 10 Percent Of Violent Victimizations Involved A Firearm-Weapons Used During Crime. The eighth is Most Crimes Are Not Solved-Why? The ninth is 250,000 Attempted But Failed Property Crimes Per The FBI-Reasons Why. The tenth is What Causes Murders And Aggravated Assaults? The eleventh was Crime Victims By Age-Those 50 And Above Have Surprisingly High Numbers. The twelfth was Understanding How The US Collects Reported Crime Data.
Most Crimes Are Not Reported
Per the National Crime Victimization Survey from the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the US Department of Justice, only 42 percent of violent crimes are reported to law enforcement.
Thirty-two percent of property crimes are reported. The great majority of what we call crime are property-related events which means that the FBI does not record most crimes.
Nevertheless, the numbers below from the FBI are some of the best indicators we have regarding the total number of “reported” crimes and the characteristics of those crimes.
Article
The numbers below are intricate which indicate the complexity of measuring and explaining criminal victimization in the US.
How many US citizens are victimized by violent and property crimes each year? For this analysis, we will use 2022 data (the latest full-year numbers) from the FBI (crimes reported to law enforcement) and The National Crime Victimization Survey from the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the US Department of Justice.
We will also look at Gallup’s 2021 household data measuring four categories of crime.
Every source provides different numbers. Every source measures crime differently.
The FBI uses crimes reported to law enforcement and the vast majority of what we call crime is not reported. The National Crime Victimization Survey collects data from those aged 12 and above using a methodology similar to the US census. It doesn’t collect homicide numbers because you can’t interview dead people. It doesn’t collect crimes against businesses.
The numbers will be hugely different because the National Crime Victimization Survey measures total crime (with some exceptions) and the FBI measures much smaller numbers of reported crime.
Repeat Victimizations
Per the Bureau of Justice Statistics via the National Crime Victimization Survey, a considerable number of repeat victimizations exist. For example, a woman could be the victim of domestic violence multiple times. The disabled have very high rates of criminal victimization along with mixed-race individuals and the poor plus other groups.
The rate of violent victimization against persons with disabilities was nearly four times the rate for persons without disabilities. Per the FBI, those aged 65 and over had the highest numbers of embezzlement, the third highest number for extortions, the highest number for fraud, and the fourth highest number for stolen property.
Individual incidents overlap for crime during any given year making total counts of crime similar to herding cats because of the complexities of a victim’s memory. See an explanation for measuring repeat victimizations here.
But again, the focus of this article is on people victimized, not events. We’re not counting the number of crimes or repeat crimes. Were counting those victimized regardless of how many times they were victims.
Baseline Data
There are 336 million Americans, and 129 million American households averaging 2.5 people per household.
How Simple And Aggravated Assaults Are Counted
The majority of assaults are simple assaults. The National Crime Victimization Survey counts simple assaults.
Per the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer, violent crimes include homicide, rape, aggravated assaults, human trafficking – commercial sex acts, and human trafficking- involuntary servitude.
FBI Data (I use rounded numbers)
For 2022, the FBI reports 13,800,000 violent and property crime victims.
FBI Chart-Includes Aggravated Assaults
The National Crime Victimization Survey
Victimizations reflect the total number of times that persons or households were victims of crime. The charts are below.
There were 6.6 million violent victimizations of persons age 12 or older in the United States in 2022, up from 4.6 million in 2021. This number includes simple assaults.
The National Crime Victimization Survey counts crime in three separate ways; victimization rates, incident rates, and prevalence rates (see methodology). For example, a person who experienced two robberies within the past year would be counted twice in the victimization rate but only once in the prevalence rate, a much lower number.
I use victimization rates.
About 3.5 million persons aged 12 or older were victims of one or more violent crimes in 2022 per the prevalence rates. The number of households is also much lower for prevalence rates.
Households in the United States experienced 13.4 million property victimizations in 2022, up from 11.7 million in 2021.
There are 2.5 people per American household thus 13.4 million households equals approximately 33,000,000 people. If you have ever had direct contact with crime victims, you understand that crime deeply impacts all within a household (I’ve seen an entire family move because of repeated bicycle thefts). A badly beaten son affects all who live in the household.
Because the “average” American household contains 2.5 people doesn’t mean that they all contain 2.5 people thus my calculations are an approximation.
So measuring violent and property crime, there were approximately 39,000,000 people victimized by crime in the US in 2022.
National Crime Victimization Survey Chart-Includes Simple Assaults-Violent Victimization Numbers
National Crime Victimization Survey Chart-Property Crimes-Victimization Of Household Numbers
Separate Report From The National Crime Victimization Survey
In a separate report, 23 Million Americans Are Victims Of Identity Theft Costing Over 15 Billion Dollars, 2022, Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Some will dispute my inclusion of identity theft or cybercrime as “real” crime victims but I’ve read endless articles about the devastating impact of these crimes on the psyche and finances of individual Americans and households. The financial impact of most of these crimes far exceeds street robberies.
Household Crime-What Happens If You Combine Violent-Property-Identity Theft and Cybercrime In One Survey?
I’m going to measure households in this section rather than people.
Per Gallup (2021) beyond the 23 percent of households victimized by violent and property crimes, 28 percent of households had their credit card stolen by hackers and 17 percent of households were victims of identity theft.
In that case, most American households “may” be victimized by crime every year which may partially explain why we are at record levels of fear of crime.
Gallup stated that 68 percent of 129 million American households were victimized in 2021 (with an average of 2.5 people per household).
Again, we are not counting crimes, we are counting people victimized and in this section, households. While it’s feasible that a household could be victimized by several crimes over time, they are victimized individually nevertheless.
A straight count of 23 percent (violent and property) plus 28 percent (credit card theft) plus 17 percent (identity theft) equals 68 percent of American households. But is this figure truly representative of the percentage of households victimized? There’s bound to be overlap (repeat victimizations). But as far as people living in a household are concerned, they were individually or collectively victimized each time. So I’ll opine that approximately half of American households were victimized in 2021.
Additional Considerations
Is there an overlap between the data presented by the FBI and the National Crime Victimization Survey? The Survey measures 240,000 people and 150,000 households yearly compared to 13,800,000 crimes counted by the FBI. If there is overlap, it’s small.
Some will point out that a victim may be the subject of multiple crimes during one event. Again, we are mostly counting victims during separate events.
Some will state that 2022 was an extraordinary year for the National Crime Victimization Survey recording a record-breaking 44 percent increase in violence that will not carry over to subsequent years. I agree. The numbers should be smaller for following years.
Conclusions
Crime affects an enormous number of Americans each year:
13,800,000 violent and property crime victims per the FBI in 2022.
Approximately 39,000,000 violent and property crime victims per the National Crime Victimization Survey in 2022.
23,000,000 million Americans are victims of identity theft per the National Crime Victimization Survey in 2022.
The sum above equals approximately 75,000,000 Americans victimized in 2022.
Approximately half of American households were victimized if you combine violent-property-identity theft and cybercrime per Gallup in 2021.
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National Offender Recidivism Rates at Offender Recidivism.
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